Carpe Diem
by Glacies
Summary: Noir picks up the camera, and records the people.


The camera's lenses were smeared with dust when Noir picked it up. It wasn't much of a camera; it was clunky and old and had more chips taken out of it than he could count. He didn't have the urge to even try, though, because has the feeling that this old camera buried within the back of Lawrence's possessions means something. Either way, when he picks the thing up and laces on his boots, takes his coat and drapes it over his shoulders, it feels familiar.

Comfortable.

It almost feels like something he never noticed had fallen back into place. Everything feels right for a moment and time, so he departs. He doesn't tell Roda where he goes. This is something that he needs to do alone, so he makes his way towards the dead sun in the sky.

* * *

Mana Jones sits and poses with an air of grace around her. Her legs are crossed at the ankles, a white lab coat draped over her lap. Her hands are neatly resting over her eyes, covering a gaze that will never truly see again. The faint scars around them stick out, silver against white.

There are flowers in her hair, assorted shades of _purples yellows blues_.

All the beautiful things.

It is the first photo he takes of the war, and it is the most fitting. It is not linked to the war but it is, and it's linked to Gauche, which makes something inside him twist painfully.

It is fitting that the first thing he would do for himself tied back to the person who has defined his entire existence.

* * *

He hunts for Jiggy Pepper, and the photo is snapped when the other has a gun out and pointed at his forehead.

The spirit amber glows. The scar over his eye looks like it is bleeding.

* * *

Aria Link nearly brains him with her violin.

There was no warning, just a few seconds of a shocked look on her face, she mouths Gauche, and her expression is half surprise, half dread. The camera's shutter clicks right then, as the violin comes at him. He dances out of the way.

"That isn't the best idea," he warns. "Do you know how long it took me to get here?"

She spits at him. "You're not Gauche."

He looks at her with a broken gaze of defiance and mourning and whispers. "I guess I'm not."

A pause.

"You're a damn good actor, though."

* * *

He donates the photos to an art gallery. They are labeled as 'Memoirs'. People start to see them. He takes more photos.

Noir signs his name as Gauche in the photos. It is something that he feels he owes Gauche, even though they have never met.

* * *

Zazie's photo is different. He is the only one who does not show any expression when Noir finds him in a state, standing in a half grown wheat field. In his hands he holds marigolds. The uniform is gone. The only resemblance within the two outfits is the leather holster of a shotgun strapped to his side.

He is facing the tombstones when his photo is taken, a snapshot in time.

The first photo captures nothing lingering on Zazie's face except bitter, bone crushing defeat. The camera clicks once.

Zazie looks at him sideways. "What's the photos for?"

"A personal project. What's the flowers for?

There is no answer and they are silent for a long minute. It is a comfortable silence.

"It's raining," the Letter Bee says. It is not raining, but Noir nods anyway.

The camera clicks again.

The second photo captures the first time Zazie has cried, so Noir takes it and places it on top of the grave with the marigold flowers.

* * *

Everyone recognizes the photo of a white haired boy with one true eye.

No one recognizes the photo of the scars that cross in a pattern over a shoulder, subtly titled 'Anonymous'.

Noir thinks it is his least favorite photo of all, and the scars from doing one's duty should be more important, but he is not the one to judge.

* * *

It is remarkably easy to get to the Akatsuki walls. He is extremely careful, only stepping in the shadows and ducking from whatever guard may happen to look his way. On his way through the gates, he notices a figure slipping out of the city.

Her gray coat is too big for her, the fur lining it covering her lower jaw. Her boots are pristine and white and make no sound at all.

The two exchange a glance and she continues on through the gates, unnoticed, a face that will soon be forgotten. He wonders what could be driving a person out of Akatsuki – _paradise_. Whatever it is, he doesn't want to know.

But he must know, and so as he slips through the gates and into the city, he pauses. He looks.

He looks at the city, and in a moment, takes one clear pristine photo of the people who have lost themselves but have not died. They continue on, but there is something off, something eerie and unnatural and dead about them. They are emancipated skeletons with no hearts but they continue on.

He bursts through the gates as he leaves, boots making a steady t_hump thump thump _on the ground, the same as his beating heart. Guards jolt to attention, shooting at him. He continues on.

He does not go to the gate. He reaches the shore and dives in, pulling himself through the water until he reaches the bridge.

He pulls himself up, wondering why people didn't do that in the beginning, instead of killing themselves to get into a place that will leave them dead.

* * *

He asks Dr. Thunderland Jr. for a photo shoot. The message is delivered by a small Letter Bee who saw it in the mail room and brought it up, and in a way, it is ironic.

The good Doctor declines.

"If you want a hero, then here." That is the response, and out of the envelope flutters two photographs.

The first is a trio of boys perched in front of an airship. They match, with hair eyes, uniforms, and smiles.

The other is a person with purple eyes and a scar on his cheek. They look young and confused, located in Hell's Kitchen. He turns it over, and on the back is written NOIR.

* * *

He doesn't include the picture titled NOIR, but he finds a puddle on the side of a street while he wanders. He looks down, and he can see his face. He looks sad and defiant broken and unwilling to give up. Jagged around the edges; the human embodiment of a shattered mirror.

He takes a picture of the reflection in the puddle, and doesn't look back.

* * *

The last photo is of the Ones Who Could Not Become Spirit. They are all huddled together and staring at the camera with smiles on their faces. It is the last to be placed in the gallery, and he wishes them good luck. Roda stares at him.

"Good luck to you, Noir."

* * *

He meets the young woman from Akatuski a month later. She is still wearing the gray jacket and the white boots.

He sees her at the docks, and she is looking at a ship. It is nothing huge, and it needs a small crew of a couple people, but it looks seaworthy. She has a pouch of gold and exchanges it for the deed to the ship. He comes up to her.

"Where are you going?" He asks.

She looks at him funny, hair pulled away from her face. "Once upon a time, there was a princess who wanted to chase the winds and race the sky, but she did not. And, once upon a time, there was a knight who wanted to race the wind and chase after the sky, and so he did. I guess that what I'm trying to say is that life isn't fair."

"I don't understand. Where are you going?"

"I'm going to live my life. Sail across the sea. Share a thousand stories. Travel the world, and, most importantly, live my life."

"You already said that. Living your life, I mean." He looks at her a bit harder.

"Then I'll live it twice." She pauses. "Tell me a secret."

Noir stares at her. "Why?"

"Who better to tell a secret to than a stranger?"

And so he tells her a secret. She replies with a secret of her own, and her name. Green. It's not her first name, she admits it, because the person she was died when she left her home, but she doesn't mind. And when she pulls herself onto the boat, and pushes off from the docks, he pulls himself onto the boat as well. She looks at him. Her brow dips in confusion.

"Where are you going?" She asks. "Why are you on my boat?"

"I'm going to live my life."

He takes out the camera and captures a picture of Green, who looks undeniably frustrated that he invited himself along. She smiles, then, and shakes her head slowly.

"As you wish."

* * *

It is one of the first decisions that does not link to Gauche, and he is happy.


End file.
